Electrical connector contact element strip and the method of making the same



Feb 17, 1942. c. E. GILBERT 7 I ELECTRICAL CONNECTOR CONTACT ELEMENT STRIP AND I THE METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed June 15, 1939 INVENTOR. CHARLES E. GILBERT BY A? L ATTORNEY.

Patented Feb. 17, 1942 MENT STRIP AND THE ING THE SAME METHOD OF MAK- Charles E. Gilbert, New York, N. Y. Application June 15, 1939, Serial No. 279,280 2 Claims. (Cl. 113-119) This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in an electrical connector contact element strip and the method of making, the same, and in particular to the production of contact elements for certain types of electrical connectors in strips of, say, fifty or more, each complete with the exception that they are so connected together that the strip is self-supporting, but also so that each contact element may be separated easily from the adjacent one when it is to be assembled with the bodyof the connector.

The type of contact element strip selected for description herein is composed of a plurality of elements similar to that shown in my Patent No. 2,086,998, which also shows several of these elements positioned in the magazine of an assembling machine, whereby each is simultaneously connected to an electrical conductor and inserted in the connector body of a type adapted to retain the element, and maintain the electrical connection established with the conductor, without the assistance of screws, rivets, binding posts or similar retaining devices. This invention makes it possible to eliminate the magazine from machines for assembling connectors of this general character, and also insures correct alinement of the contact element during the process of assembling. However, the invention is not limited to the form or type of element or connector shown in the patent. but is applicable to numerous other forms.

The type of contact element and its method of manufacture selected for description are shown in the accompanying drawing, of which:

Figure 1 illustrates a strip of thin conducting material;

Figures 2 and 3 show the same strip after it has passed through one or more stamping and punching operations;

Figures 4 and 5 illustrate the same strip after it has passed through a further operation whereby the individual contact elements have been almost completely severed therefrom;

Figur 6 illustrates the folding process undergone by each element of the strip; and

Figure 7 shows the strip of completed contact elements.

As shown in Figure 1, the contact element strip consists ofa strip I of thin conducting material having a width equal to the over-all length of the contact element and a length sufiicient to accommodate the desired number of contact elements, say fifty. By one or more punching and stamping operations the strip may be pierced with holes 2 and 3, outwardly projecting tongues 4 formed, and the end 5 shaped as shown in Figures 2 and 3. By a further operation the strip is transversely slit as shown at 6 in Figures 4 and 5, each slit passing through the center of a hole 2. These slits are spaced apart a distance equal to the width of the contact element and terminate just short of the end 5, so that the strip is still held intact by the unsevered portion 1, Thereafter each on of the parts of the strip formed by the previous slitting and representing a contact element is folded upon a line running longitudinally of the strip through the centers of holes 2. Preferably, though not necessarily, this is accomplished by first folding the strip to form a right-angle, then folding it further to form an angle of 45, and then completing the fold to the desired form. This method is illustrated in Figure 6, in which element 8 is completely folded, element 9 has passed through the 90 and 45 foldings, 'andlel-ement II) has been folded only once by 90, the remaining elements of the strip being still unfolded.

When the folding of each of the elements of the strip is completed by this or any other suitable method, the strip is complete, and has acquired the form shown in Figure '7. It consists of a plurality of contact elements, assumed to be fifty in number, wholly severed from each other except at the portion I, the dimensions of which are such that the entire strip retains adequate strength to maintain its alinement, but permits the individual contacts to be readily sheared apart.

Such a strip of contact elements, when used in a suitable assembling machine such as that disclosed in the aforementioned patent, requires no separate magazine, the strip of contact elements forming, in effect, its own magazine. This strip being self-supporting. may be inserted in the assembling machine, and each individual contact element sheared from the strip by the operation of the machine in inserting the element into the body of the connector. When the assembly of one element to the connector body is completed, the remainder of the strip simply drops down so that the next connector is in position for the next assembling operation.

In this way the cost of magazines is eliminated, also the labor of filling them, and, further, certaindifflculties and uncertainties encountered in the automatic feeding of separate contact elements from such magazines. Also, since the strip of elements is quite rigid, each individual ment for the assembling operation, and yet is easily sheared from the adjacent element by the normal operation of the assembling machine.

It will be evident that many other types of contact elements including both straight and folded may be made in strips of this character within the scope of the invention.

I claim:

1. A strip of contact elements composed of a plurality of contact elements formed from a strip of conducting material, each element having two legs and being connected to the adjacent element by a section of one leg only so weak that each element may be easily severed from the adiacent element by longitudinal movement of one element with respect to the other.

2. The

contact elements in a strip of conducting material, progressively severing each element from vsaid strip with the exception 01' a portion so short method of'making a ma amt element's, which includes the steps 9! stamping progressively the configuration lot a plurality of 

